Conventionally, a card collecting and processing apparatus has been known which includes a card reader formed with a card conveying passage in its inside, a card collection cassette, and a lifting mechanism structured to lift and lower the card collection cassette (see, for example, Chinese Patent Laid-Open No. 103544768). In the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, the card collection cassette is provided with a plurality of card loading slots which are disposed so as to superpose on each other in an upper and lower direction, and one card can be stored in one card loading slot. Each of the card loading slots is provided with a card pushing-out mechanism structured to push out a stored card toward a card reader. The lifting mechanism includes a nut which is attached to the card collection cassette, a screw with which the nut is engaged, a motor for rotating the screw, and a guide mechanism structured to guide the card collection cassette in an upper and lower direction. The guide mechanism includes a guide shaft which is disposed so that the upper and lower direction and its axial direction are coincided with each other, and a guide bush engaged with the guide shaft. The guide bush is attached to the card collection cassette. Further, the card collecting and processing apparatus includes a pair of card conveying rollers which are disposed between the card reader and the card collection cassette.
In the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, when processing by a customer is not executed during a predetermined time period in a state that a card has been taken into the card reader, it is judged that the customer has forgotten to take out the card and thus, the card in a card conveying passage of the card reader is taken into a card loading slot of the card collection cassette and stored. In this case, the lifting mechanism moves the card collection cassette up or down so that the heights of the card conveying passage and the card loading slot in which the card is to be stored are coincided with each other. Further, in this case, the card ejected from the card reader is conveyed by a pair of the card conveying rollers and is taken into the card loading slot. Further, in the card collecting and processing apparatus, when a predetermined processing by a customer is executed before a predetermined time period has elapsed after the card is stored in the card loading slot, the card stored in the card loading slot is pushed out toward the card conveying passage by the card pushing-out mechanism and the card is returned to the customer through the card reader.
In the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, the lifting mechanism moves a card collection cassette up and down by using a screw and a nut and is provided with a guide mechanism structured of a guide shaft and a guide bush. When a length in an upper and lower direction of the guide bush engaged with the guide shaft becomes shorter, inclination of the guide bush becomes larger with respect to an axial direction of the guide shaft and thus the guide bush does not move smoothly along the guide shaft and, as a result, the card collection cassette may be hard to move smoothly. Therefore, in the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, the length in the upper and lower direction of the guide bush is required to make longer. However, in the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, when a length in the upper and lower direction of the guide bush becomes longer, the guide shaft also becomes longer corresponding to a length of the guide bush and thus a length in the upper and lower direction of the lifting mechanism becomes longer and, as a result, the size of the card collecting and processing apparatus is increased in the upper and lower direction.
Further, in the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, the card collection cassette is sometimes moved up and down in a state that a card is stored in a card loading slot. In a case that a card which is stored in a card loading slot is not completely taken into the card loading slot, when the card collection cassette is to be moved up and down, the card stored in the card loading slot and a structural component of the card collecting and processing apparatus may be interfered with each other. However, in the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, a card ejected from the card reader is taken into the card loading slot by a pair of the card conveying rollers disposed between the card reader and the card collection cassette and thus an incomplete taken-in operation of a card to a card loading slot may be occurred. Therefore, in the card collecting and processing apparatus, when the card collection cassette is moved up and down, a card stored in a card loading slot and the structural component of the card collecting and processing apparatus may be interfered with each other.
In addition, in the card collecting and processing apparatus described in the Patent Literature, each of the card loading slots is provided with a card pushing-out mechanism structured to push out a stored card toward the card reader. Therefore, the number of components of a card pushing-out mechanism is increased and the structure of the card pushing-out mechanism is complicated.